Backwater
by Meat Puppets
Album: Too High To Die (1994)
The Meat Puppets originally formed in 1980. Singer/guitarist Curt Kirkwood first met drummer Derrick Bostrom at a party in Paradise Valley, Arizona. In the book Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets, Kirkwood recalls, "It was a party of all his friends from the church that he went to - they were all pretty eccentric people already, listening to a lot of different stuff."
The Meat Puppets' 1982 self-titled album was recorded in just three days (at Unicorn Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard) and under the influence. As bassist Cris Kirkwood recalled in the book Too High to Die, "We dosed for three days in a row and recorded that thing."
The Meat Puppets' Too High to Die album was released in the wake of the Kirkwood brothers' appearance on Nirvana's classic MTV Unplugged special, when they got to accompany the Seattle band as they covered three classic Meat Puppets II numbers. Rock radio picked up on this melodic rocker and it became the Puppets' biggest ever hit. The song was their only entry on the US Hot 100.
The song started out as a slower, bluesier number, inspired by The King of Rock 'N' Roll's spiritual tunes. Lead singer and principal songwriter Curt Kirkwood explained to us: "I always liked Elvis' gospel albums, and I like gospel in general. Those are the Elvis albums I grew up on, because my grandmother had them. Kept some of the first stuff. So I thought it would be cool to write a gospel, or try to. So that's what that was. It wasn't really supposed to be religious, like gospel, but it was real slow. And I pretty much started out with the organ, the demo was based mostly around the organ. And it was a lot slower. It was hymnal slow. "
The album title is a parody of The Ramones' 1984 album Too Tough to Die.
The single was released in three versions: one promo CDS and two singles. It is the Meat Puppets' most successful single. The highest position in the US was No. 47 in Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, No. 11 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 31 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart. The 3 track single features a cover of the Feederz. They Might Be Giants sing back-up vocals on "White Sport Coat."
1980-
Curt Kirkwood Vocals, guitar
Cris Kirkwood Bass
Derrick Bostrom Drums 1980-1996
Shandon Sahm Drums 1999-
Writer: Curtis Mathew Kirkwood
And when I wake up in the morning
To feel the daybreak on my face
There's a blood that's flowin'
Through the feeling, with a knife
To open up the sky's veins
Some things will never change
They stand there looking backwards
Half unconscious from the pain
They may seem rearranged
In the backwater swirling, there is
Something that will never change
And when I should of been gone a long time
Laughs and says, I find ways
Just when we're sheltered under paper
The rockets come at us sideways
Some things will never change
They stand there looking backwards
Half unconscious from the pain
The
